Max King couldn't get out of bed on Saturday. A throbbing head and fever kept him inside most of the day. "When I rode a bike to pick up my race packet," he said, "every bump I went over made my head just kill."

The two-time defending champ said he wasn't sure he'd be able to get himself to the XTERRA Trail Running World Championship race Sunday morning, but it's a good thing he did. After running with eventual second-place finisher Will Christian for the first seven miles or so, King started to pull away on a long climb, and never looked back.

"I had a pretty good gap at the top," he said, "then enjoyed the singletrack on the back side and was happy to finish. Now I'm going to go lay down and die." All jokes aside, King said he did feel much better after the race.

For his efforts, King made it a three-peat, being crowned World Champion (and taking home $2,000) yet again.

Second-place Christian (1:17:56), running his first XTERRA World Championship, said of the course, "Not knowing those hills, yeah, that was key for me. I didn't know that hill kept going on and on."

Third place went to BYU-Hawaii cross-country runner, Rivers Puzey, who finished in 1:20:54. "I didn't qualify (for the NCAA-II meet happening this weekend)," he said, "but when I heard about this, I wanted to try it. "I didn't have any expectations. I knew there were going to be a lot of fast runners, so, to finish third, I am very happy."

The women's race wasn't free from ailments either, but they came at the end rather than the beginning.

Road running star Sally Meyerhoff lead from the start, feeling good, but says she suffered over the 12.9-mile course.

Despite winning and coming in a solid eight minutes ahead of second place-finisher Kim Kuehnert of Honolulu, Hawaii, Meyerhoff collapsed at the finish and needed medical attention for heat exhaustion.

"The hill around mile 7 was so steep I had to walk parts of it," she said. She added that she didn't drink or eat as much on the course as she would have liked to, noting that she'd take a cup of water, but spill much of it as she was trying to keep her eyes on the trail.

"I felt like my legs were going to fall out from under me. I felt like I was going to fall off the trail at times," she admitted, adding that the race was the hardest thing she'd ever done.

That's saying a lot, considering Meyerhoff has run a 2:35:49 marathon, won the USA 25-K Championship and holds the women's record (in an all-women's race) in the 10-Mile distance (54:38).

"I did a little trail running to get ready," she said, after recovering. "But in Arizona, we don't have the type of terrain to practice on. And it's only been in the mid-50s."

"It's really cool to be at a World Championship race, though," she said. "You don't get that opportunity in road running that much."

Meyerhoff says she plans on doing more trail running races next year, noting the benefits of gaining physical and mental strength. "You can't find a road race that hard ... I can't."

Kuehnert, a 22-year-old sophomore on the Hawaii Pacific University cross-country team, was surprised with her second-place finish of 1:36:22. "This is unbelievable!" she exclaimed.

Over 1,500 competitors descended on Oahu's Kualoa Ranch, home of film sets for the TV show "Lost" and movies like "Jurassic Park." The day's events included the Championship 21-K (actually 12.9 miles) course, a 10-K, 5-K and kids run. The XTERRA Trail Run World Championship was the last race in a 60-stop World Tour, a national and international series of trail races ranging from 5 km to 42 km held in eight countries and 15 U.S. states.